We have received documents from a military source indicating that U.S. Postal Service facilities across the country are expanding the construction of secretive criminal investigation rooms, which some fear will be used to detain American citizens in the event of a national emergency, bioterror attack or pandemic.

The documents (PDF) show architectural floor plans for criminal investigation rooms that would be housed within existing U.S. Postal Service buildings. The blueprints show “secret rooms” within post offices where, the source claims, “families will be separated” in the event of martial law being declared.

The United States Postal Service undoubtedly uses such “criminal investigative units” to conduct investigations into mail fraud through its federal enforcement arm, the United States Postal Inspection Service, but as with many things of this nature, everything serves a dual purpose.

The fact that such rooms are being constructed inside post offices is verified. We discovered this web page which talks about how an architecture firm called IPG Architects constructed a “Criminal Investigative Office” within the Macon Post Office in Macon, Georgia. The new documents describe similar rooms being constructed in Lake Forest, Illinois and Gurnee, Illinois.

Critics savaged the MSEHPA as “an unprecedented assault on the constitutional rights of the American people,” that, according to the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons claimed, “could turn governors into dictators”.

The act included draconian and sweeping language giving the government almost limitless power in responding to a declared national health emergency, such as a bioterrorist attack or an epidemic.

Under the act, the government ascribes itself the power take over any public facility, including post offices.

In addition, a recent executive order signed by President Barack Obama hands the US Post Office a “key role” in dealing with the aftermath of a bioterrorist attack, according to an AFP report. The executive order directs the Post Office to work with government agencies and local law enforcement to oversee “medical countermeasures”.

“The US Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano were instructed to work with the post office to develop a “dispensing model for US cities to respond to a large-scale biological attack, with anthrax as the primary threat consideration,” states the report.

If all this sounds hard to believe, just remember that the same was said when we reported on how the federal government was recruiting religious leaders to pacify the public in the event of martial law being declared under the banner of the “clergy response team” program. The existence of the program was confirmed by news channel KSLA after first being brought to our attention by concerned pastors who were approached to partake in the initiative by the government.

Whether the Post Office’s role in a martial law scenario will also include providing quarantine and detainment facilities remains to be seen, but the documents provided to us do indicate that the construction of criminal investigation units within Post Office buildings is being expanded nationwide.

Click here for the full PDF of the floor plans showing how “criminal investigation offices” are being built inside U.S. post offices nationwide, as well as the accompanying article.